Dallas Stars Blog

Lehtonen to start Saturday?

We’ll see if Marc Crawford is pulling our leg or not, but he said after Friday’s game that he’s leaning toward starting Kari Lehtonen on Saturday against St. Louis.

I could see the seeds of this plan jumbling around his head a couple of days ago, but figured it would be set aside when Matt Climie was called up from the Texas Stars for the express purpose of playing an NHL game this season.

And when the Stars decided that Climie would go to St. Louis, along with Lehtonen, and that Marty Turco would stay home on Saturday, it just seemed natural to assume that Climie would get the start and Lehtonen would back up and not play on back-to-back nights.

But I really think Crawford wants to see how the 26-year-old Lehtonen responds. Lehtonen had two back surgeries and missed most of the season before the Stars traded for him in February. He has nine appearances so far, and looks like he’s in good shape.

Combine that with the fact the Stars till have a mathematical chance to make the playoffs, and I could definitely see Lehtonen starting against the Blues.

We’ll see what happens, but there is much intrigue there.

The Stars still would have three games left after the Blues game, so Climie could start any one of those.